BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – More than half of all the TV households in the Birmingham market watched top-ranked Alabama roll over LSU Saturday night, according to local Nielsen overnight ratings provided by Birmingham’s CBS 42.

Nationally, it was the second most-watched college game of the season on CBS, trailing only the Alabama-Texas A&M shootout on Sept. 14.

In Birmingham, Saturday’s game generated a 54.1 rating, which equals about 390,000 households in the market.

Also, the game earned a 72.8 local share, meaning that nearly three-quarters of the TV sets turned on during prime time Saturday night were tuned in to the Alabama-LSU contest.

Those numbers are up slightly from last year’s thriller in Baton Rouge (52.3 rating/70.8 share), but down from the 2011 “Game of the Century” in Tuscaloosa (56.4 rating/75.4 share).

The rating represents the percentage of all TV households in the market, while share accounts for the percentage of those TVs that are in use at that particular time. Also, the numbers do not reflect “out of home” viewers who may watch the game at a sports bar or other public gathering spot.

Nationally, this year’s Alabama-LSU game delivered a 6.9 overnight rating with a 13 share.